Mount Pilatus (German: Pilatus) is a mountain overlooking Lucerne in Central Switzerland. It is composed of several summits of which the highest (2,128 m) is named Tomlishorn. Another summit named Esel (2,119 m) lies just over the railway station. Jurisdiction over the massif is divided between the cantons of Obwalden, Nidwalden, and Lucerne. The main peaks are right on the border between Obwalden and Nidwalden.\r
\r
The top can be reached with the Pilatus Railway, the worlds steepest cogwheel railway from Alpnachstad, operating from May to November (depending on snow conditions), and the whole year with the aerial panorama gondolas and aerial cableways from Kriens. Both summits of Tomlishorn and Esel can be reached with a trail. Mount Pilatus has the longest summer toboggan track in Switzerland (0.88 miles or 1,350 m) and the biggest suspension rope park in Central Switzerland.\r
\r
During the summer, the Golden Round Trip - a popular route for tourists - involves taking a boat from Lucerne across Lake Lucerne to Alpnachstad, going up on the cogwheel railway, coming down on the aerial cableways and panorama gondolas, and taking a bus back to Lucerne.\r
\r
A few different local legends about the origin of the name exist. One claims that Mount Pilatus was named so because Pontius Pilate was buried there. (a similar legend is told of Monte Vettore in Italy). Another is that the mountain looks like the belly of a large man, Pilate, lying on his back and was thus named for him.\r
\r
Numbered amongst those who have reached its summit are Conrad Gessner, Theodore Roosevelt, Arthur Schopenhauer (1804), Queen Victoria and Julia Ward Howe (1867).
